Canadian wanted in international drug trafficking investigation arrested in Mexico after 4 years on the run

Canadian wanted in international drug trafficking investigation arrested in Mexico after 4 years on the run

Denis Ivziku, 28, facing extradition proceedings on drug trafficking charges, Canadian Justice Department says

Mexican authorities have arrested a Canadian fugitive who has been wanted since 2022 in connection with an investigation into an international trafficking operation that smuggled drugs to Manitoba.

Denis Ivziku was arrested on May 14 in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, according to a statement from Canada's Justice Department. He is now facing extradition proceedings and faces Canadian charges for conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance and conspiracy to possess proceeds obtained by crime, the department said in a Thursday statement to CBC.

In 2022, Manitoba RCMP said Ivziku, from the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, was wanted in connection with Project Divergent.

The multi-year investigation, launched in 2018, infiltrated an international trafficking operation involving large volumes of Mexican cartel drugs that were smuggled into Manitoba, then distributed across the country, police said.

They announced 20 arrests in connection with that investigation in 2022 but said Ivziku had fled. The now 28-year-old has been on the run from authorities since.

During a trial late last year for Damion Ryan, a high-level member of the Hells Angel outlaw motorcycle gang arrested during Project Divergent, court was told Ivziku sold multiple kilograms of methamphetamine to a drug-dealer-turned-informant who helped the RCMP on separate occasions.

Crown attorneys at the trial said Ivziku, also known as "Menace" and "Elvis P," is Ryan's brother-in-law. He also went by "Super Gremlin," according to court documents related to Project Divergent.

Ryan was found guilty last year of conspiring to traffic in methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, and conspiracy to profit from the proceeds of crime as a member of an organized crime group, with the judge saying he was a "key" part of the drug trafficking network.

Criminal group involvement: Mexican authorities

In a news release from May 15, Mexico's Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection said federal authorities had arrested a man in Quintana Roo.

The news release identified the person arrested only as "Denis N." Local media in Mexico are reporting Denis N is Ivziku.

The arrest came after a warrant was executed for a person officials alleged was among the "main perpetrators of violence at an international scale," and the leader of a criminal organization committed to drug trafficking and extortion, the news release said in Spanish.

The Mexican authorities alleged the person arrested was involved in the logistics of a criminal group under the guise of motorcycle club, and the municipality of Benito Juárez was the man's main area of operation.

He was arrested after Mexican authorities exchanged information with the RCMP, the release said.

The news release also said the person was wanted by Canadian authorities on charges related to international drug and firearm trafficking.

The release also said Interpol had a notice out for the person, who also had an outstanding extradition order.

Santiago Arias Orozco is a journalist with CBC Manitoba currently based in Winnipeg. He previously worked for CBC Toronto and the Toronto Star. You can reach him at santiago.arias.orozco@cbc.ca.